Regardless of how long you have been in the grant writing field, as a grant professional, there are always huge benefits for serving as a grant reviewer.
I started my career as a grantmaker, I was a Program Officer at the Michigan Women’s Foundation, something I have written about here before.
In the years since I left grantmaking as my full-time work and started working exclusively with nonprofits and other grant seeking groups about building their capacity for grant seeking, I have served on numerous grant review committees. Despite having a background in grantmaking, each and every time I have the opportunity to serve as a grant reviewer I walk away with a new idea or a new perspective on something that struck or irked a reviewer.
This year, as Community Review Panel time came around again for the United Way of Northern New York, a volunteer commitment I hold near and dear to my heart since it is grantmaking happening in my very own Northern New York, I got to thinking again of the value for grant professionals to serve as grant reviewers.
What was I thinking while I was on the road for a nonprofit site visit? Well, check out this video below to see!
What do you think? How has serving as a grant reviewer helped your work as a grant professional?
Trying to figure out how or where to become a grant reviewer?
Check out this great post from Judy Rifle, Ph.D. about How to Find Federal Grant Review Opportunities!
Absolutely beneficial. I have been a reviewer for Foundation, State and Federal grants, and I’m SURE that is the reason why I am more successful in obtaining more of each of these types of grants every time I apply. I’ve received scores of 100 on Foundation, State and Federal grants many times – it does help to review because it makes you a better applicant.
Congratulations, Jennifer! Fantastic to hear how direct of a correlation you have seen between your time serving in a review capacity to your work when on the grant seeking side of the equation.